Golden Goose APAC CEO Mauro Maggioni on the brand’s legacy: Interview

Golden Goose APAC CEO Mauro Maggioni, 47, has had 27 hours to himself to celebrate his birthday, which he shared with Her World cheekily. Prior to the opening of Golden Goose’s new store opening at Marina Bay Sands, Mauro shared that he was in Perth for a visit and now Singapore, giving him three hours of headstart. 

There were no signs of fatigue when we chatted with Mauro about the unique store concept called Fioreria Golden, which translates to ‘flower shop’ in Italian. The store is designed to mirror a classic Italian ‘bottega’ or artisanal workshop, exuding a vintage ambiance that celebrates craftsmanship and authenticity.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’ve been in Asia for a long time — 18 years. I’ve been with Golden Goose for five years now and before that, I was with Zegna for seven years and Armani for six years in Hong Kong. I was in Hong Kong the whole time. I moved to Hong Kong when I was 26!

Was fashion your major?

I actually studied economics. For two years, I actually worked in the university’s economics department as my first job, and then I moved to another corporate environment because I wanted to do something more engaging and vibrant. 

After a short period of time in Belgium, I said, ‘Oh, I want to go abroad.’ There was not really a rational reason why — perhaps it was for the discovery, the search for something different or the affection for aesthetic, beauty and art. Then I landed in Hong Kong, taking a job with Armani.

You spoke about beautiful aesthetics. What are some inspirations that you look for in life?

My mum is a painter. She has a very high sense of aesthetic herself, and I value that. It’s not because of the stated per se, but because of curation, the attention to details and sharing the joy of something with anybody — no matter a lapsing product, landscape, a glass of wine, good food or a beautiful skyscraper.

What were some of your best accomplishments when you joined Golden Goose?

The best accomplishment is always the next one.

That’s deep.

Well, we’ve been doubling down our presence here in Singapore, which is something that I’m proud of. We’re also very fresh in the Malaysia market. In the next few years, it will be about market penetration for us. We’ve been welcoming customers from the Philippines and Indonesia so those might be new opportunities. It’s just a matter of finding the right spot at the right time.

I also feel like your experience of living in Asia gives you a worldly market perspective of knowing what trends are good in Asia.

Absolutely. Having an eye on the happenings in the world versus what is happening in Asia. Asia is a big word. Understanding our consumers would be crafting a message in the right way. So we have here, the joyful Fioreria concept, where you have all the flowers around the shop — it’s very Golden Goose in a way, but it’s also very suitable for a city like Singapore. 

And what were your first impressions of Golden Goose?

Before joining the company, I approached the conversation in a very traditional way. I asked, ‘What is the nature of the job? What is the potential for the region I have to handle? What are the resources they can give me to handle the traditional way? After a back and forth conversation, I finally joined and the very first day in the Milan office, there was a showroom presentation in front of everybody. 

When Silvio Campara, our great CEO, called me out to introduce myself, that was the real first impression. I could tell the energy of this company, and I would join in one second. That was the first impression of a team deeply committed to their work. My job was fairly simple — I took that energy and mirrored the nature of the energy in what I do.

Golden Goose has always been associated with the ‘distressed look’ and the skateboarding scene way before other luxury brands. When other brands caught up and made it trendy, what were your thoughts?

We don’t chase trends — other brands chase trends. We don’t distress the product because we think this is the trend, but because we think there is a memory about that product that gives us a reason why that product is distressed. So for us, it is forever.

For the brand, the sneakers department is strong and now, you’re also here to remind people about apparel. 

I like the word remind because we are a ready-to-wear brand initially. So being a ready-to-wear brand and then having the hero product as a sneaker makes us a total loop, right? In fact, we don’t really propose casual wear or sportswear. Everything we do is for every moment of the day of the week. As long as it’s curated, our headquarter is doing a fantastic job in creating a variety of items that are in your wardrobe forever.

Are GG shoes still made in Italy? Why does the company still stand by the made in home country label?

Our brand is a combination of product research and the attention to detail. We kind of channel the street style journey, that element and the craftsmanship of Italy. That’s why one of our pillars of our product proposition is Made in Italy. Besides, we own our own companies and a factory.

The company has set out to meet the Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN and it seems it has achieved 6 out of 10 targets to be met by 2025. Could you tell us more about it? Does it cover materials, labour etc?

We partnered with Coronet, an expert company specialising in the research and production of animal-free, bio-based and recycled materials. We won the Groundbreaker Award on the stage of the CNMI Sustainable Fashion Awards 2024 for the Yatay Lab project. We have the Forward Strategy, which is a simple statement, where we have the ‘many people, small actions, big impact.’ If our communities are happy to repair their shoes rather than throw them away, to us that is the strategy. That’s why our four main strategies are about reparation, service in store, remaking of the product, reselling of the product, and recycling of product.

We aim to be carbon neutral by 2025.

What are your favourite GG shoes to wear?

At one of our six stores globally where we offer shoe repair services, I saw these pair of shoes in the resell area. This was an archive piece dated 10 to 12 years ago which was sold by one of our customers, who is a lawyer. You don’t find them anywhere, anymore.

I probably have about 50 pairs of shoes now.